Karen Maleck-Whiteley: Your personal spring cleaning

LIVE WELL, STRESS LESS

When you think about it, our grandmothers had the right idea. As the weather starts to get warmer and the trees sprout more leaves, it just seems right to throw open the windows, air out the house, scrub things down, sweep out the cobwebs, and clean out those old piles of junk.

It just makes you feel better about your living space.

We also know that when we can easily find things, when we can move through a room without bumping into boxes or tripping over piles of clothes, and when our home is clean enough to have friends over, we are much less stressed.

You can create the same refreshed and renewed feelings for your body, mind and spirit, and now is the perfect time to do it.

Take a few minutes out for yourself, and think about the way you want to look and feel by summer. Then make a plan to take at least one action this week to open up, clear out some old junk and feel better about you.

Here are several things that will help you accomplish your personal spring cleaning:1) Use this Feng Shui technique:

In your home, office and car spaces, make a practice of cleaning out or putting away 21 things every day for the next 21 days. It doesn’t matter if they are big or little things, the act of doing this creates order and space for you both in your physical and psychic realities. 2) Renew your body by picking a couple of these tactics to try.

Have a skin rejuvenating facial (try a peel to eliminate dead skin cells and brighten the skin)

Get a salt or sugar body scrub to renew the rest of your skin

Try a massage to stimulate your lymphatic system and release the tension from your muscles. Better yet, schedule one regularly, even if it is only once a month

Do a wellness cleanse to clear toxins and waste from your colon and other organs

Add some exercise or movement to your day. Start small, and enjoy what you choose to do

Change your diet to be healthier. Take baby steps at first by picking one or two things to try at once. Eliminate artificial sweeteners, drink more water, cut down on caffeine, reduce fat and salt, switch to whole grain products, eat less red meat, and more vegetables.

3) Open up and air out your mind. Just like in your physical space, clearing clutter in your mental and spiritual spaces relaxes you, reduces stress, and creates more space for the new things you would rather manifest in your life.

Use hypnotherapy or other methods to release old habits, fears or behaviors you would rather live without

Take a class in yoga, meditation, art or something else fun that you have always wanted to learn

Dump at least one negative thing you say to yourself. Pick one, and whenever you hear it inside your head, tell yourself “That it isn’t true anymore,” or counteract it with a new positive statement.

Once you start to notice how you speak to yourself, you will become more able to stop and give yourself the counteracting statement.

Don’t expect to totally stop having negative thoughts — you are human. Instead, your goal is to give yourself more positive input than negative, and tip the scales your way.

Clean out your “should” list. Think through all those things you keep putting on your to do list over and over. You know, the ones that have been there for months, or perhaps even years.

Allow yourself to let go of all of them that you are not going to do in the next month. It’s OK to change your mind on a goal, or stop thinking you need to do something just because other people think you should.

You don’t need to keep carrying the weight of those unrealistic expectations around on a daily basis. You can always put something back onto your list later, if you want to, when it is possible.

Start today by picking just one of these ideas to try this week. Then make a resolution to add one each week as spring develops. Even one or two will make you feel lighter, more renewed, and ready to live more fully by summer.

Karen Maleck-Whiteley is a certified hypnotherapist, coach, speaker and author. Karen is also the co-owner of Balance Point Spa in Canyon Country. Contact Karen at (661) 252-0650 or find out more by visiting BalancePointSpa.com, WMWgroup.com, livewellstressless.info, or Five4Me/podhoster.com (free downloads).